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It's great for those who have the money for it. I personally would feel a little foolish spending that much on clothes even if I won the lottery.....but that's just me.
Oh Harsh Huckeberry - and you wonder why they say SoCal is pretentious????
It's overrated (by a non-Rosie lookalike) because it's obscenely expensive and over priced. It's a sin, IMO, to spend that kind of $ on clothing when there are people starving in the world, in our own country...but that's just me.
A price of a garment consists of following IMO (I am not including the whole "retail markup"):
1. Quality of the material
2. Quality of make (stitching, lining, symmetry)
3. Style (actual look of the piece of clothing)
4. Label and prestige
When you buy any garment the price is distributed with certain percentage going to each of these quadrants. A well-balanced garment would have approximately the same percentage of cost attributed to each of the quadrants and IMO is a good buy - probably something that will serve you for a while (because of good quality of materials and craftsmanship) and look great. An overpriced garment would have majority of its cost attributed to the 4th quadrant - label and prestige. This means that maybe 90% of the price is for the label itself with the rest 10% going towards the quality of the material, craftsmanship and style (these tend to be very good when it comes to couture items, but still the cost of these things is largely overshadowed by the exorbitant amount going towards the label). So, IMO, haute couture is not a good buy unless you really care for the label/prestige and have places and people to show it too that would appreciate this garment for what it is.
In comparison, a cheap piece of clothing from China has majority of its cost in style (many of these clothes looks stylish and fashionable) with little going towards craftsmanship and materials (depending on the item) and very very little towards the label.
A price of a garment consists of following IMO (I am not including the whole "retail markup"):
1. Quality of the material
2. Quality of make (stitching, lining, symmetry)
3. Style (actual look of the piece of clothing)
4. Label and prestige
When you buy any garment the price is distributed with certain percentage going to each of these quadrants. A well-balanced garment would have approximately the same percentage of cost attributed to each of the quadrants and IMO is a good buy - probably something that will serve you for a while (because of good quality of materials and craftsmanship) and look great. An overpriced garment would have majority of its cost attributed to the 4th quadrant - label and prestige. This means that maybe 90% of the price is for the label itself with the rest 10% going towards the quality of the material, craftsmanship and style (these tend to be very good when it comes to couture items, but still the cost of these things is largely overshadowed by the exorbitant amount going towards the label). So, IMO, haute couture is not a good buy unless you really care for the label/prestige and have places and people to show it too that would appreciate this garment for what it is.
In comparison, a cheap piece of clothing from China has majority of its cost in style (many of these clothes looks stylish and fashionable) with little going towards craftsmanship and materials (depending on the item) and very very little towards the label.
A price of a garment consists of following IMO (I am not including the whole "retail markup"):
1. Quality of the material
2. Quality of make (stitching, lining, symmetry)
3. Style (actual look of the piece of clothing)
4. Label and prestige
When you buy any garment the price is distributed with certain percentage going to each of these quadrants. A well-balanced garment would have approximately the same percentage of cost attributed to each of the quadrants and IMO is a good buy - probably something that will serve you for a while (because of good quality of materials and craftsmanship) and look great. An overpriced garment would have majority of its cost attributed to the 4th quadrant - label and prestige. This means that maybe 90% of the price is for the label itself with the rest 10% going towards the quality of the material, craftsmanship and style (these tend to be very good when it comes to couture items, but still the cost of these things is largely overshadowed by the exorbitant amount going towards the label). So, IMO, haute couture is not a good buy unless you really care for the label/prestige and have places and people to show it too that would appreciate this garment for what it is.
In comparison, a cheap piece of clothing from China has majority of its cost in style (many of these clothes looks stylish and fashionable) with little going towards craftsmanship and materials (depending on the item) and very very little towards the label.
With true couture pieces, a lot more than 10% of the cost is going toward the materials and workmanship. I think this analysis may apply to pret-a-porter labels from high-end designers, but true couture involves a LOT of hand labor involved a LOT of highly skilled workers, usually using very expensive fabric and fastenings.
So, it may be that the $1000 dress you see on the rack at Saks is overpriced, it was mass produced probably not using materials much better than you find at cheaper stores. But the much more expensive Lacroix ballgown is probably not overpriced considering the amount of labor and materials that went into it. Most haute couture houses make their money on ready-to-wear, their true couture lines are not that profitable.
I think it's difficult for most people to say whether it's overrated, how many of us have owned a couture piece?
boy just give me a good ol" pair of jeans and a t shirt and flip flops any day of the week and I am good . Oh and for work , a skirt black or blue and a blouse and a sweater if in an office a pair of hose and heels and I am good . but like i said i prefer a pair of jeans and a tshirt .
With true couture pieces, a lot more than 10% of the cost is going toward the materials and workmanship. I think this analysis may apply to pret-a-porter labels from high-end designers, but true couture involves a LOT of hand labor involved a LOT of highly skilled workers, usually using very expensive fabric and fastenings.
So, it may be that the $1000 dress you see on the rack at Saks is overpriced, it was mass produced probably not using materials much better than you find at cheaper stores. But the much more expensive Lacroix ballgown is probably not overpriced considering the amount of labor and materials that went into it. Most haute couture houses make their money on ready-to-wear, their true couture lines are not that profitable.
I think it's difficult for most people to say whether it's overrated, how many of us have owned a couture piece?
True that. I've never owned or even tried on a real haute couture piece from the high end designer. My analysis refers to the pieces that are sold at the high end designer stores, basically those available to shoppers. It seems that haute couture that you are referring too is not something that can be easily obtained by going to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or similar high end shopping areas. I don't know how many people have experience with real haute couture unless they are in the fashion industry. I understood the thread topic to refer to the pret-a-porte pieces that people would have opinions on as they are what we see when we are "window shopping". To be honest, I have no idea how much the real haute couture piece would even cost, so I can't offer any analysis on that.
Now the question to you, what do you call the pieces produced by local designers, those who are yet unknown but make their own clothes? I own a few pieces from unknown designers made by them personally, these are not expensive pieces and they are well made, but in my quadrants analysis, these pieces would be more "balanced" because the designers are unknown and their labels are not worth much (they are also from oversees). So, I prefer to buy from unknown designers if I want something unique and something that is not mass produced. My everyday clothes are inexpensive and come from mass produced "made in China" stock. These clothes serve their purpose and are donated when they are done serving or thrown away when they fall apart.
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